Natural Pearls from Venezuela, a unique collection

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Peter1963

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Oct 10, 2012
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modiolus philippinarum 01667I would like to share some pictures from some natural pearls that belong to my family. Most of them were purchased many years ago from local fishermen, others were found along the beaches. Some of those pearls have been used by local natives as necklaces and have holes in them. I would love to hear some professional opinions about this unique collection and how to get this appraised.
Please enjoy the pictures.
P1030793.jpgP1030842.jpgP1030796.jpgP1030799.jpgP1030830.jpg[/ATTACH]P1030844.jpgP1030852.jpgP1030853.jpgisognonom isognomum 01670Solemyidae 01655
 
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Is this the same batch of pearls as in another thread? If so we only need one thread about the same pearls. If not, it is quite the coincidence as someone else has a similar collection. They have great luster and interesting shapes.

Millions of pearls were taken from Venezuala during the Conquest years. It used to be the biggest source for pearls in the world- until it got cleaned out. I think it is amazing there are still pearls in the area. Are they old pearls from 100-400 years ago or are they recently found?

This collection is worthy of a museum. I love the necklace made from them! It is very primitive. That is probably how they looked when first drilled and strung.

I can see a designer getting a hold of these too. They aren't your usual round cultured pearls- or even your usual natural pearls. They are unique and hopefully should be sold as a collection and/or designed as a collection, too.

We have a member, Jeremy Norris, who is a natural pearl dealer and handles a lot of unique pearls. I would contact him, or someone else like him, until you find someone who knows about this kind of pearl. They are so unique, there is no market price, but they seem to be antiquities. It may take a while to get to someone who knows what can be done with them, but I would start with Jeremy. His member name is jnorris. You can send him a private message or an email.

And, perhaps someone else knowledgeable will see this thread and contact you or comment.
 
Caitlin, thanks for your input and yes they are the same from previous thread. What happened was that last week I only uploaded one picture and when I tried to upload more, I couldn't figure out how to, so I did a new post. I will contact Jeremy and I appreciate your help. Those are indeed antique pearls, my family has done archaeology in Venezuela for the last 40 years.
 
Terrific pearls.

Quite impressive sizes of the individual pieces. Many range from 4-6mm with a mix of smaller and larger pearls.

This collection greatly resembles mine, the exception being a slightly different color pallet. These present with typically natural features in translucency, shape and surface.

The wholesale market on pearls has no criteria. Whoever aquires collections like these, consider a significant value add. Precious metal, other gems, designers, manufacturers etc. factor greatly into finished pieces, so it's important to understand that although rare, these pearls may only represent a single digit percentage of the overall cost of the edition.

That said, crafted well, each piece could fetch a significant amount.

A rare collection of natural pearls in significant numbers and characteristics, thank you for sharing them with us.
 
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If you haven't contacted Jeremy yet, don't. I am the admin who fixes stuff like that. I will just combine the two threads.
 
I would greatly appreciate if somebody could refer me to a specialist who can provide me with more detailed informatio about my collection of how to proceed to get them evaluated. Thanks.
 
Did you contact jnorris? Your pearls are as much antiquities as anything else. I don't see them being sold for a few necklaces. There is a boater who got a bunch of those from a wreck. He sells them on his own website. This is not an easy thing to do. You need to know the antiquities laws and the antiquities trade. These seem more for a collector or a museum, than jewelry.

What we need here is for you to report your journey finding out about these pearls in the market. You are the pioneer in this effort, you need to uncover the market by checking out the antiquities pearl trade and who wants them. I think it would be collectors and professional collectors of antiquities, specializing in pearls.

I am sorry no one here has been able to steer you better. Sometimes we need others to research and report them here, I hope you let us know what you learn.
 
Thanks Caitlin, I will follow your advice and do some more research. I will keep you posted.
 
Caitlin, the pearls were sent to the GIA and from there for carbon testing to the University of Arizona. I also consulted with some experts and these are the results. They are Atlantic Oyster pearls, Pinctada Imbricada and Atlantic Winged Oysters Piteria colymbus, the GIA found them to be in excellent shape and luster and the age is from 1455 to 1610. I believe these are the oldest pearls in large quantities found on this continent.
 
Wow, that's very exciting! What are you planning to do with them? I would think any museum in the world would be thrilled to have a few on display!
 
Peter1963 said:
Caitlin, the pearls were sent to the GIA and from there for carbon testing to the University of Arizona. I also consulted with some experts and these are the results. They are Atlantic Oyster pearls, Pinctada Imbricada and Atlantic Winged Oysters Piteria colymbus, the GIA found them to be in excellent shape and luster and the age is from 1455 to 1610. I believe these are the oldest pearls in large quantities found on this continent.
Click to expand...

Excellent report!

Would it be possible to post scans of the GIA and UofA documents?
 
What a wonderful update! I get shivers just thinking of where and what these treasures have seen over the centuries since they left the sea ... fascinating!
 
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